How to View File Contents Using less

Files and Directories

How to View File Contents Using less in Linux

Hey there! 👋 Welcome to another beginner-friendly Linux tutorial from ProgramGuru.org.

Today, we're going to learn one of the most useful tools for browsing through large text files in the Linux terminal — the less command.

Imagine you're working with a huge file, like a system log or a large code file, and you want to read it bit by bit, scroll through it, search inside it, and not load the whole thing at once. That's where less comes in!

🧠 What is less?

less is a terminal pager program used to view (but not edit) the contents of a text file one screen at a time. It's great for large files because it doesn't load the whole file into memory.

📂 Step 1: Create a Sample File

Let's first create a simple file to test it on.

echo -e "Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3\nLine 4\nLine 5" > sample.txt

This will create a file named sample.txt with a few lines.

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
Line 5

👀 Step 2: View the File with less

Now let’s use less to view this file:

less sample.txt

When you run this command, the file opens in a paging interface. You won’t see the usual prompt — instead, you’re in a special viewer mode.

🕹️ Step 3: Navigating with less

Here are some helpful controls you can use while inside less:

  • Up/Down arrows: Scroll line by line
  • Spacebar: Scroll one full page down
  • b: Scroll one full page up
  • / followed by a word: Search forward for text
  • n: Repeat search
  • q: Quit and return to terminal

For example, to search for the word Line 3, type:

/Line 3

Then hit Enter and it will jump to the line with that text highlighted.

🛑 Step 4: Exit the Viewer

When you're done viewing the file, just press:

q

And you'll be back to your terminal prompt.

✅ Summary

  • less is ideal for viewing large files
  • It’s faster and more flexible than cat or more
  • It lets you scroll, search, and quit easily

That’s it! You’ve just learned how to view files using less. Practice on bigger files like logs (e.g., /var/log/syslog) and you'll love how powerful this tool is.

See you in the next lesson at ProgramGuru.org! 🚀